Jay-Jay's POV
I had barely made it outside before the tears finally started to sting my eyes.
I hated this — hated how everything had been decided for me, hated how Angelo and Serina acted like my life was some kind of agreement on paper, hated how Kiefer had known and said nothing.
I wrapped my arms around myself and tried to breathe.
The door opened behind me.
Of course it did.
I didn't turn around right away. "I said don't follow me."
"Yeah, well," Kiefer said quietly, "I'm not very good at listening when you're upset."
I laughed bitterly. "That's funny coming from you."
He came to stand beside me, not too close this time, like he was afraid I'd run. For once, he wasn't smirking. No lollipop, no teasing voice, no cocky attitude. Just Kiefer — stripped down and real in a way I wasn't ready for.
"I should've told you sooner," he said.
I stared ahead, jaw tight. "Yeah. You should've."
He nodded once, like he deserved that.
For a moment there was only silence between us, the kind that feels heavy and important.
Then he spoke again, voice low. "You want the truth?"
I turned to him, still angry. "I want a lot of things."
"That's fair." He looked down at his hands for a second, then back up. "My father was a monster."
The way he said it made my chest squeeze.
"He wasn't just cruel," Kiefer said. "He was the kind of man who made everyone in the house afraid to breathe wrong. Me, Keigan, Keiren… we all lived like we were waiting for the next explosion."
I stayed quiet.
Kiefer swallowed hard before continuing. "He used power like a weapon. At home, at work, everywhere. Nothing was ever enough. If we made a mistake, he made sure we remembered it. If he was angry, everybody paid for it."
My fingers tightened around the strap of my bag.
"Kieren was the youngest," he said, voice roughening. "He saw too much. More than he should've. There were nights when he just… froze. Like his mind was trying to shut the whole thing out."
I felt my throat tighten.
Kiefer looked away, jaw clenched. "Keigan tried to protect him when he could. I tried too. But when you're a kid in a house like that, protecting someone doesn't always mean saving them. Sometimes it just means being there when everything falls apart."
He finally looked at me again, and there was something in his eyes that I had never seen before.
Not arrogance.
Not amusement.
Just pain.
A deep, old pain that had clearly been there for years.
"My father was the reason I learned to keep my face blank," Kiefer said. "Why I act like nothing touches me. Why I joke when things get ugly. It's easier than letting people see how bad it really was."
I didn't know what to say.
Because suddenly, the annoying boy with the lollipop and the smug grin wasn't just annoying anymore.
He was a person who had survived something terrible.
And I had been so busy being angry at him that I hadn't seen it.
Kiefer took a breath. "The thing you heard about—what happened with Keiren, what he saw…" He stopped, clearly struggling for words. "He witnessed things a child should never have to see. Our father was violent, Jay. Not just with us. With everyone. He ruined people's lives without blinking."
I went cold.
"I hated him," Kiefer said, and this time the words came out sharper. "I hated him for what he did to us. For what he turned our home into. For what he made Keiren see."
His voice dropped even lower. "That's why Angelo pulled me out. He helped us when nobody else would. That's why I owe him. That's why I can't just walk away from whatever he asks of me."
I stared at him, stunned silent.
All this time, I'd thought Kiefer was just the rich boy with too much attitude, the king of Section E who never took anything seriously. But now I understood why he'd been so careful around Angelo, why he went still whenever certain names came up, why he always looked like there was something darker underneath the smirk.
He wasn't only protecting me.
He was carrying his own ghosts.
And suddenly my anger felt smaller than I'd wanted it to.
I looked down, then back up. "Why are you telling me this now?"
His mouth twitched, but there was no humor in it. "Because you were looking at me like I was part of the problem."
I flinched, because he wasn't wrong.
"I didn't want you to see me like that," he admitted. "But I also didn't want you walking away without knowing why this happened. Why Angelo made this deal. Why Serina agreed. Why everyone keeps acting like this is bigger than just… us."
My voice came out softer than before. "And is it?"
He nodded once. "Yeah."
The word landed between us like a stone.
For a long second, neither of us spoke.
Then I whispered, "I'm sorry."
Kiefer looked at me like he didn't expect that.
"I'm sorry," I repeated, more firmly this time. "I was angry. I still am. But I didn't know."
He gave a short, tired breath, almost a laugh but not quite. "You don't have to apologize for being angry."
"I do if I was being unfair."
He looked at me for a second, then nodded slowly.
And then, in the quiet, he did something that surprised me more than any of the rest of it.
He leaned his shoulder against the wall beside me, close enough that I could feel the warmth of him without him actually touching me.
"I'm not asking you to forgive Angelo," he said. "Or me. Not yet. I'm just asking you to understand that none of this is simple."
I swallowed hard. "You should've still told me."
"I know."
That answer was so immediate, so honest, that it made my throat ache again.
We stood there in silence for a while, the sky overhead turning darker by the minute.
Then Kiefer added, quieter this time, "You were never just part of a deal to me, Jay."
I turned to look at him.
He didn't meet my eyes right away.
But when he finally did, the expression on his face made my heart stutter.
There was no smirk there. No confidence. No game.
Just him.
And maybe that was scarier than all of it.
Because now I knew two things at once:
Kiefer had a past full of pain he barely spoke about.
And somehow, against my better judgment, I wanted to hear more.
I hugged him
I could remember feeling vulnerable
That feeling killed me
as we pulled away
our faces close too close
and I don't how but we kissed
Soft and vulnerable